2 years plus

Alive Catholic Early Learning Centres continue to work in partnership with families to provide education, care and support for our children

Alive Catholic Early Learning has created these resources to help families support their child’s learning continuity in an online environment when they are not at our Centres.

In these rapidly changing times – in one sense – nothing changes. We’re still here supporting your children in their learning.

You are not expected to be an educator or teacher – your role is to support your child’s learning and development in any capacity you can. This can be supported by the learning resources we have developed which can be successfully completed in the home. For more information about things you can do to support your child’s move to an online environment, please click here.

If you’re struggling to know how best to support your child – connect with your child’s educator.

Your child’s wellbeing is the most important thing. Your role is simply to make sure that they are healthy, happy and safe.

Go gently. Love your child. Support your educators. Be kind to yourself.

Your child might be starting to test boundaries. They could start talk about people who are not with them at the time. This is an important stage in your child’s social and emotional development. They might be finding out about themselves – what they want and don’t want, what they are feeling – and about other people.  They could be trying to make sense of the world. What they can’t see, they might try to fill in with their imagination. Their language may also develop quickly during this time. This is an exciting time for you as a parent or caregiver as you might start communicating in conversation with your child. 

Here are some activities you could do with your child at home to continue their learning.

• Practise catching, hitting, bouncing and kicking - start with something small and easy to hold like a little bean bag or tennis ball. When spaces aren’t safe for balls, some rolled-up socks can be good for this.
• Make up games that involve different types of movement - get your child to chase bubbles, walk along chalk lines, gather shells and jump over puddles or cracks in the ground.
• Play different kinds of music or make sounds with your voice or instruments - this can encourage dancing and a sense of rhythm.
• Invent some silly walks and runs with your child - you could try running like a monkey, jumping like a bunny and flapping like a bird.
• Learn to ride a bike, scooter or tricycle
• Cosmic Yoga - mindfulness and relaxation for kids which build strength, balance and confidence.
• Go Noodle - inspire children to be active and mindful with a wide range of videos that appeal to kids’ different ages, interests, skills, and abilities.
• Blowing bubbles - blow bubbles and then pop them together.
• Sensory box - a box of different items of different textures for your child to explore
• Water play - in the bath or in the backyard, children are encouraged to use many different everyday household items to pour, scoop, transfer and splash
• Playdough, slime and goop - just to name a few. Try out some of our recipes.
• Nature Play SA - the Nature Play SA blog provides insights into places to go for adventures, ideas and inspiration for outdoor play and information on local flora and fauna.
• Mother Natured - this free resource from Mother Natured is full of ideas for outside play
• Allow your child to investigate the world around them - by encouraging your child to ask questions, you are engaging your child in STEM. It is never too early to start exploring STEM concepts with your child.
• Go out into nature - collect things like rocks, flowers, leaves, and bugs, and more together.  Bring along binoculars or a magnifying glass and let your child investigate their world on another level!
• Describe what’s around you - talk about what’s happening, for example ‘Look at the water bubbling in the pot. The water is boiling. That means it is very, very hot.’ As your little one gets older, you can encourage them to talk about the things around them and ask them questions, such as ‘What do you think will happen when we drop the cloth in the water?’
• Playing - engaging in the trial and error of play develops your little one’s early critical thinking and reasoning skills and helps them understand how things work. Here are some great toys that encourage STEM learning:
  - Blocks teach geometry, physics and gravity
  - Stacking cups teaches size relationships
  - Building/construction toys (Lego/Duplo, Mobilo, etc.) teach spatial skills, creative thinking
  - Balls teach motion, momentum, and velocity
• Preschool STEAM - Everything you need to know about STEM activities for toddlers, including activities you can do at home
• GreatStart - a list of STEM activities from the Department of Education
• From Engineer to Stay At Home Mum - a list of 30 STEM activities to do at home
• Zoo to You - Watch a livestream of the animals at the Adelaide Zoo or Monarto Safari Park
• Use maths to talk about things happening in everyday life - that car went very fast, this bag is very heavy
• Race toy cars - talk about which one came 1st, 2nd, 3^rd
• Arrange toys - this is a good opportunity to discuss which toys are smaller and bigger
• Involve your child in cooking - your child can help stir, pour, fill and mix. This helps your child become familiar with concepts like counting, measuring, adding and estimating
• Go for a nature walk - let your child gather a mix of leaves, sticks, pebbles and other natural items. Your child can sort them into groups based on size, colour, shape or what they do.
• Read stories with numbers or counting - these could include:
  - One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish by Dr Seuss
  - Ten little ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
  - Counting kisses by Karen Katz
  - Ten little fingers and ten little toes by Mem Fox
• Early Childhood Literacy and Numeracy Cards - This set of cards has been developed by the Australian Government to help you support young children in learning to read, write and do maths
• Block play - talk about different shapes and patterns with your child.
• Music Makers - promote fine and gross motor skills, develop your child’s language skills, build knowledge of taking turns and explore music together.
• Five-finger starfish meditation - a simple way to encourage children to prepare their bodies and breathing, ask your child to hold up one hand in a starfish position (fingers spread wide) and while they gently trace up and down each finger with the other hand, focus on regular breathing at the same time
• Sharing stories from the Bible - another way for you and your family to connect with God and the wonders of His creation
• ‘VeggieTale’ - On Netflix there are ‘VeggieTale’ episodes which present life lessons through a biblical worldview
• Share Grace before mealtimes - ask your children to share Grace before mealtimes just like we do at Alive. Mealtimes with family members also provides a wonderful opportunity to talk about the positive things you are grateful for in your daily lives.
• Lost Sheep - great children’s biblical stories
• ABC song - develop your child's sense of letters, sounds, words and vocabulary.
• Balloon tap - coordination and motor skill development.
• Belly buddies - teach mindfulness through breathing activities.
• Scooping and pouring - scoop, pour and transfer water to teach measurement.
• Dancing - dance to action songs to promote listening skills and following directions.
• Body tracing - develop your child's sense of identity.
• Chair spin - balance and coordination development.
• Bubble blowing - holistic development activity.
• Pairing shoes - mathematics in daily life to problem solve.
• Pretend play - gain a sense of identity and express imagination through imaginative play.
• Helping hand -  develop interdependant life skills.
• Hide and seek - develop social and emotional skills in learning to follow rules.
• Moon sand - edible sensory experience.
• Music and movement - physical, sensory and coordination development.
• Nature walk - help your child's senses find out about the world.
• Rainbow balloon painting - learn about colours whilst using creativity and imagination.
• Sing ring-a-ring-a-rosie - balance and coordination development.
• Row your boat - balance and coordination development.
• Smell the flower - develop mindfulness and reflection skills
• Brown Bear story - develop language skills through participation and repetition.
• I Went Walking story - develop language skills through participation and repetition.
• Going on a leaf hunt - go on an adventure, just like the story!